There are ways to arrive in Champagne, and then there is touching down by private jet for 24 hours behind the doors of one of its most storied Maisons.
With an intimate group, The Wedding Edition travelled to Épernay for an overnight experience with Perrier-Jouët, staying at Maison Belle Époque, the Maison’s remarkable private residence on the Avenue de Champagne. Ten special guests joined us for two days of exceptional food, extraordinary bottles and a glimpse inside a side of Champagne rarely seen.
Day One: Inside the World of Perrier-Jouët
Our adventure began at Farnborough Airport, where guests gathered before boarding a private jet with VistaJet for the short flight to France. For today’s global traveller, perhaps the ultimate privilege is no longer simply possessing beautiful things, but gaining access to experiences few others ever will, and this felt rather a case in point. An hour later, we touched down at Châlons Vatry, where six cars were waiting on the tarmac to whisk us through the Champagne countryside towards Épernay. Luggage was taken directly to our rooms, leaving us free to head straight to our first, and very important, appointment: lunch.
Lunch at Cellier Belle Époque
Our introduction to Perrier-Jouët began at Cellier Belle Époque, just across the road from Maison Belle Époque on the Avenue de Champagne.
We settled outside for a leisurely lunch accompanied by Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut, a wonderfully relaxed opening to the trip. Seasonal plates arrived between glasses of Champagne, giving everyone a moment to settle into Épernay before the afternoon’s rather more immersive programme began.
It was a clever first glimpse into the Perrier-Jouët world. Rather than beginning with the technicalities of Champagne, we began with the pleasure of drinking it around a table, paired with food and enjoyed in the place it was made.
And then, quite literally, we crossed the road.
Behind the Doors of Maison Belle Époque
At 2pm, we were welcomed into Maison Belle Époque, Perrier-Jouët’s private residence and, rather thrillingly, our home for the night.
The house holds the largest private collection of Art Nouveau in Europe, and the connection between Perrier-Jouët, art and the natural world unfolds from the moment you step inside. Rather than feeling like a conventional hotel, Maison Belle Époque has the intimacy of a private home, filled with extraordinary furniture, glass, decorative pieces and the botanical motifs so closely associated with the Maison.
Perhaps the most delicious part was knowing that we weren’t simply visiting. We were actually sleeping here.
Upstairs, guests discovered individually designed bedrooms including Guimard, Brouhot, Majorelle, Tournai and Gauthier Poinsignon, each with an entirely different personality.
The rooms are wonderfully eccentric and romantic. Guimard is awash with powder blue, patterned fabrics and tall French windows; Brouhot pairs intricate timber furniture with flashes of coral; Majorelle has an exquisite decorative wooden bed and matching armoire; while Tournai is moodier, with dark wood, soaring curtains and a sculptural chandelier. The effect is far closer to staying in the beautiful private home of a particularly stylish collector than checking into a hotel.
Waiting upstairs were another series of surprises: Olivia von Halle pyjamas, slippers, 111SKIN and Aspinal notebooks personalised with ‘Notes from Champagne’ from Aspinal. A very chic sleepover was beginning to take shape, but first, the Champagne.
From the Vineyards to the Cellars
Our afternoon took us out to Cramant, where we toured the Grand Cru vineyards and saw first-hand the landscape behind the bottles we had been drinking over lunch.
Back in Épernay, we explored Maison Belle Époque and its Art Nouveau collection before heading underground into Perrier-Jouët’s cellars.
The contrast is wonderful: from the colour, pattern and botanical exuberance of the house to the cool, hushed cellars beneath Épernay, where the temperature remains around 12°C throughout the year.
After walking the cellars came the reward: a tutored tasting of Perrier-Jouët’s Non-Vintage collection. Here we could finally slow down and taste properly, guided through the different expressions and understanding a little more of the freshness and floral character that defines the Perrier-Jouët style.
By late afternoon, we disappeared upstairs to our rooms to change for dinner.
Dinner at Maison Belle Époque
At 7pm, everyone reconvened in the bar for an apéritif and the Maison Belle Époque glass ritual, before moving through for the centrepiece of the evening: a five-course seasonal dinner created by Chef Sébastien Morellon, inspired by Pierre Gagnaire, with Champagne paired throughout.
The dinner brought together everything we had experienced during the afternoon. The Champagnes were not simply poured alongside the food; the evening was conceived as a pairing, allowing each glass to reveal something different as the menu unfolded. The Maison describes the experience as a journey revealing the specificities and unforgettable taste of the Perrier-Jouët style, which felt particularly apt after a day spent following the Champagne from vineyard to cellar and, finally, to the dinner table.
Five courses later, the loveliest detail of all was our commute home. No cars, no taxis, just a walk upstairs through Maison Belle Époque to our rooms.
Personalised pyjamas waiting, the Avenue de Champagne outside and a rather extraordinary day behind us, it was time for bed.
Day Two: Leclerc Briant & Lunch Above the Vines at Royal Champagne
Morning began with breakfast at Maison Belle Époque before we checked out and made the five-minute journey across Épernay to Champagne Leclerc Briant. If Day One had been an immersion into the world of Perrier-Jouët, Day Two introduced us to a very different side of Champagne, with the focus turning to organic winemaking, individual vineyards and experimentation.
We were taken behind the scenes on a private tour of the winery before sitting down for a tasting of four Champagnes: two single-vineyard wines alongside Château d’Avize and Abyss. Abyss was the morning’s great talking point, a Champagne aged for more than a year at a depth of 60 metres beneath the Atlantic Ocean. It was one of those deliciously eccentric details that makes Champagne endlessly fascinating, and a story that would follow us to lunch.
From Leclerc Briant, we climbed into the hills towards Champillon and Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa, a suitably cinematic final stop. After the intimacy of Maison Belle Époque and the working winery experience of the morning, arriving here felt wonderfully expansive, with terraces opening onto rolling vines and the Champagne landscape stretching out below.
Before lunch came a final piece of theatre. We gathered on the terrace for a sabrage experience, opening a magnum of Leclerc Briant Abyss. Drinking the very Champagne whose story we had discovered only hours earlier brought the morning neatly full circle.
Then it was time to settle in at Le Bellevue Terrasse for one last long lunch overlooking the vineyards. The Marie-Louise menu began with a choice of Aveyron foie gras with onion confit and Champagne, or seabass carpaccio with rhubarb and lemon confit. For the main course, there was plancha-grilled pollock with Fregola Sarda risotto and saffron from the Marne, or South-West duck aiguillette with short jus and freshly grated aged Parmesan.
Pudding presented an equally difficult decision: tangy chocolate with chocolate cream, shortbread, Piedmont hazelnut ice cream and sorrel, or blackberry vacherin with meringue, verbena sorbet and ganache made using honey from Royal Champagne’s own beehives.
And while Champagne had naturally been the protagonist of the previous 24 hours, the final lunch took our glasses briefly beyond the region. Following the magnum of Abyss on the terrace, wines from Domaine Belleville introduced the table to Burgundy and Royal Champagne’s sister property, Château de la Commaraine.
It was exactly the sort of lunch you want on the final afternoon of a trip: long, unhurried and overlooking the vines we had spent the previous 24 hours getting to know. From a private jet out of Farnborough to lunch on the Avenue de Champagne, Grand Cru vineyards, underground cellars and a night inside Maison Belle Époque, followed by organic winemaking, underwater-aged Champagne and one last lunch above the vines, it had been quite the 24 hours.
PJ to PJ, you might say.
With special thanks to:
Perrier-Jouët — @perrierjouet Royal Champagne — @royalchampagne Aspinal of London — @aspinaloflondon The Styled Writing Company — @thestyledwritingco 111SKIN — @111skin
